Letters    

 THE NATURE OF PROPHECY

Dear D. W.                                                                                                   December 4, 1986

       ...Much prophecy is telescopic, i.e. there is an immediate fulfillment, but the complete fulfillment is future. In this sense, prophecy may be said to be both historical and eschatological. For instance, in Amos, the "Day of the Lord" is both historical (5:18-20) and eschatological (7:4; 8:8,9). So, Isaiah describes the historical day of visitation on Babylon as if it was the eschatological "Day of the Lord" (chapter 13). Zephaniah describes the "Day of the Lord" as the historical disaster at the hands of an unnamed enemy (1:10-12,16,17; 2:5-15). Yet, he also describes it as a world-wide catastrophe in which all creatures are swept off the face of the earth (1:2,3); so that nothing remains (1:18). Divine judgments in history are only rehearsals of the last judgment.

TO ONE WHO BELIEVES ALL BIBLE PROPHECY HAS BEEN FULFILLED

Dear D. W.                                                                                             September 26, 1988

        To use your line of reasoning, the Bible is completely irrelevant because according to your thinking, it has nothing to say about the present or the future. It appears as though you are determined to allow your own understanding to be the ruination of your soul. "Not many wise men after the flesh are called" (I Corinthians 1:26). Will you stop philosophizing long enough to consider a few facts?

      First, the fact that prophecy is addressed to an immediate audience, in no way cancels its ultimate fulfillment in future time. We have been over this road several times, but what makes you so dangerous is that you share your falsehoods with others. You will have to answer to God for that.

     Second, to deny future judgment of men and nations is to deny the whole body of Truth. The Bible teaches this doctrine everywhere. It has been the creed of Christians from the earliest times. The earliest creed of the Faith is expressed in what has come to be called "The Apostles' Creed," being a summation of their doctrine. Go ahead and deny it, but it will be at the peril of your soul.

     Third, D., do you pray before you read the Word of God? Wisdom comes from above, and if God does not teach us, we will never learn. Like Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses, we will be ever learning, but never able to come to the Truth. Have you ever prayed and asked God for wisdom, and then carefully read Matthew chapters 24 and 25? Will you do it? And, be not unbelieving, but believing what the will of the Lord is.

    You apparently deny the immortality of the soul, as well as the future punishment in Hell (See: Matthew 25:46).

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